Mary Cabarles, LCSW

Mary Cabarles is a licensed clinical social worker with 18 years of experience who helps people facing major life changes, stress, and midlife concerns. She welcomes straightforward conversation and practical planning for problems like anxiety, grief, relationship strain, and burnout. Mary listens first, then helps people build small steps they can use at home and work.

Mary's background spans many settings. She began in social work as a college student and has worked in group homes, residential programs, job coaching, and the public sector. Her experience includes supporting people affected by homelessness, domestic violence, trauma, and co-occurring disorders, and she has worked with clients across the lifespan from children to older adults.

She opened a private practice during the pandemic to respond to rising stress from job shifts, financial strain, caregiving demands, environmental disasters, and social unrest. That experience shaped a practical focus on managing stress, coping with loss, and steadying relationships under pressure. Sessions tend to combine listening, concrete problem solving, and skills people can try between meetings.

Mary uses several therapeutic styles to match what each person needs. She draws on cognitive behavioral techniques to address unhelpful thinking, acceptance and commitment ideas to clarify values, and attachment-based work to understand close relationships. The goal is to help people feel less overwhelmed and more capable of small, useful changes.

People who reach out can expect a calm, direct approach and help making plans that fit daily life. Mary practices in California and provides services in English.

Therapeutic approaches for online midlife support

Mary uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help people name what matters to them and take small steps toward those values even when emotions are strong. ACT can be useful for people facing midlife questions, stress, or grief because it focuses on action tied to personal priorities.

She also uses Attachment-Based Therapy to look at patterns in close relationships and how those patterns affect current stress or intimacy concerns. This work helps people understand recurring relationship reactions and try new ways of relating that feel safer and more effective.

Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Mary will talk with each person about goals, preferences, and what feels most helpful, then adapt methods to fit those needs in a collaborative way.

Session options were not specified in the biography, so please confirm current online formats before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit therapy into busy schedules, cut commute time, or have shorter check-ins during a break. Some people prefer video for face-to-face connection while others choose audio for less screen time; Mary will discuss what fits your routine and goals.